Downtown Cabaret looking at return to musicals

Published 5:15 pm, Thursday, October 18, 2012

David Victor as Van Helsing (left) faces off with Dracula (Brian Michael Riley) in the Bridgeport Theatre Company production of "Dracula" opening a two-week run on Oct. 26.

David Victor as Van Helsing (left) faces off with Dracula (Brian Michael Riley) in the Bridgeport Theatre Company production of "Dracula" opening a two-week run on Oct. 26.

Photo: Contributed Photo

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The Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport.

The Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Downtown Cabaret looking at return to musicals

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With its lease recently extended for another decade, the Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport hopes to return to some of the musical theater programming of its heyday, according to Executive Producer Hugh Hallinan.

Hard hit by financial cutbacks and the rising costs of producing its own shows, the venue was forced in recent years to switch to much smaller scale imported productions -- revues and music concerts and such touring shows as "Defending the Caveman."

"I think we're on a turn for the better," Hallinan said in a phone interview last week after securing the new lease and a commitment from the city government of Bridgeport to cover the theater's utilities for the next 10 years.

For the first three decades of its existence, the Bridgeport venue became renowned for putting on high quality professional musical theater -- shows like "Evita" and "Hair" that would run for many weeks to large crowds -- but those shows became prohibitively expensive to produce on site.

Now Hallinan said he is in the early stages of putting together musical theater events for next year.

"I'd like to do a Broadway concert series with well-known performers," he said, comparing these shows to the "Les Miz" and "Phantom of the Opera" concert specials that have been a mainstay of PBS programming.

"The other part of the plan is to get back into producing musicals, but limit it to shows with a maximum of six performers," he added.

With more people moving into downtown Bridgeport -- a new senior residence is about to open within a block of the Cabaret Theatre -- Hallinan believes his theater has to become "a destination point all of the time."

"The most important thing we are getting back to is having something happening here every week of the year," he said.

"The temptation to produce a full-scale musical is ever-present, but we have to be careful. The standard of what we used to do was so high that people didn't always see what we had to spend the money on," Hallinan said of paying the professional actors and musicians and keeping production standards high.

Now that the future of the venue has been assured, the producer can begin to plan new scheduling ideas.

"For a year and a half we were on tenterhooks," he said of not knowing if the cabaret would have its lease extended and gain some financial support from the city.

Last week, the Westport Country Playhouse announced a special fundraising challenge in conjunction with its season ending production of "A Raisin in the Sun."

The "Theater Worth Supporting" challenge set by donors Maureen and Edwin Schloss of Darien will match up to $100,000 donated by ticket buyers, subscribers and others in the community until Saturday, Nov. 3.

Challenge donations will be used to fund the Pplayhouse's five-play 2013 season of "Theater Worth Talking About" productions, student matinees and symposia, talkbacks, and literary salons, open to the public free-of-charge.

In announcing the challenge, Michael Ross, playhouse managing director, said, "We are deeply grateful to the Schlosses for their incredible generosity and for their desire to encourage others in our community to step up and support the playhouse. Donations of all sizes are critical to our success, to our ability to do the work we do on stage, in schools and throughout the region."

Donations can be made online at westportplayhouse.org/supportus/challenge.aspx, by phone at 203-227-5137, ext. 138, or by visiting the playhouse box office.